The PMA (Photo Marketing Association Show), which is traditionally held the first week in March in Las Vegas, is usually the place for new camera announcements. Yet, this year the January Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas is grabbing much of the focus of new camera announcements. On the first day of the show, more than 30 new cameras were announced and many more followed.

Thankfully, the emphasis on megapixels has been down-played. One obvious exception is the newly introduced USD 8,000 Nikon D3X D-SLR a huge professional 24.5-megapixel. Mid and low-end offerings, however, seem to have settled into the 10 to 12 megapixel category while manufacturers aim at improving other functionality including storage, zoom, stabilization, and Internet interoperability. While digital camera announcements are plentiful, camcorder announcements are unbelievably abundant.

Sony itself introduced 30 new camcorders at CES. All of these cameras and camcorders are being housed in casings that are smaller and sleeker. Color abounds as choices include colors like Sony’s eggplant, Panasonic’s orange and lime, and Olympus’ magenta and navy blue in addition to the usual black, silver, red, pink, and blue. Slim is in and so is lightweight as shown by the Optio P70, a new hard drive camera by Pentax. Measuring only 3.82" x 2.13" x 0.85" (97 × 54 × 21.5 mm) and weighing just 125 g (4.4 oz) including card and battery, it will be one of the slimmest and lightest cameras ever.